Flares in #HBV DNA, ALT common in pregnant, #postpartum women

[HFIAdmin]

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[adminhepbtrust]

Hi to all HBV mums,

We at the UK helpline have helped thousands of mums have baby safely in the UK and also abroad via advice and support literature. I would say common is rather a strong term 95% of mums do not have flares here. The key is to soften the shock of being diagnosed at 3 months as nearly all are, we have tested mums for HBV since 2002. What a young HBV mom needs to know is both she and baby will be fine, that excellent vaccination care keeps baby UNINFECTED and that the virus is very manageable with todays excellent medications. Also some moms who have serious bleeds during birth and have transfusions and other mums with complications needing serious pain relief are responsible for most of the flares reported to our helpline over the last 8 years. Most of all these brave young women need to know things will be fine and relax and enjoy their pregnancies. We regard successful counselling as leaving them worrying about baby names and blue boots or pink boots and confident HBV is very easy to manage. Some 3% of UK migrant mums have HBV, 50,000 since testing started and they have all come through maternity very well, the last thing they need is extra and unnecessary panic about "flares". ALTs at 2000 plus we have only noted in acute cases and those taking chemotherapy for luekemia.